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About Paschal

Paschal is the Fine Gael TD for Dublin Central and in June 2017 was appointed as the Minister for Finance & Public Expenditure and Reform. Prior to his appointment as the Minister for Finance & Public Expenditure and Reform, he served, from May 2016-June 2017, as the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and from ...

Early loan repayment puts Ireland in stronger financial position for the future – Donohoe

27th November, 2017

Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure & Reform, Paschal Donohoe, T.D., has this evening (Monday) welcomed decisions taken earlier today by the European Commission and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to approve Ireland’s request for waivers from the proportionate early repayment clauses in Ireland’s European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) and EFSF loan agreements. This will allow Ireland to repay in full programme related loans from the IMF, Sweden and Denmark and marks a very considerable landmark.

Speaking following today’s events, Minister Donohoe said: “The interest savings to the Exchequer from these early repayments are estimated to be of the order of €150m over the remaining life of the loans. This puts Ireland in a strong financial position for the future and ensures we are making further sustainable progress in reducing our national debt.

Actions taken in recent years, and the sacrifices made by our citizens, have laid the foundations for a solid and sustained economic recovery in Ireland – Ireland continues to be the fastest growing economy in the Euro Area and our sovereign funding position is comfortable.

Ireland greatly appreciates the support and assistance from the IMF and our European partners, which was provided at a time of great uncertainty and played a part in getting us on the path to recovery. As our country continues to recover we will keep making decisions that are in the best interest of our country, our future prosperity and, most importantly, our people.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

Early repayment of the loans requires agreement from the remaining Programme lenders – the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM), the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the UK – to waive the proportionate early repayment clauses in their respective loan agreements. Minister Donohoe has already received the required waiver from the UK Chancellor, Mr Philip Hammond.

On receipt of the formal EFSM waiver from the European Commission and the EFSF waiver from the EFSF, the NTMA will now initiate the formal process of making the repayments on Ireland’s behalf.

Ireland’s outstanding programme related IMF debt (circa €4.5bn), and the bilateral loans from both Sweden, (€0.6bn), and Denmark, (€0.4bn), a total of circa €5.5bn has the potential to generate considerable interest savings and further improve Ireland’s debt sustainability, provide liquidity benefits and increase the ECB’s purchase capacity for Irish government bonds in its quantitative easing programme.